heavy lifting

[ hev-ee lif-ting ]

noun

, Informal.

1. hard work:

   A team of researchers did the heavy lifting for the author.

Word History and Origins

Origin of heavy lifting¹

First recorded in 1930–35

Example Sentences

Mr Bailey will also echo Reeves' concern that the UK pension system is "fragmented" and requires "heavy lifting" to fix it.

From BBC

The venue did most of the heavy lifting, providing the subtext to the speech and the point from which Harris could pivot.

From BBC

Sound does a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to the jump scares, though almost immediately, we learn to distrust what we hear.

From Los Angeles Times

“I joke with my friends that my disability does a lot of heavy lifting for my appalling personality,” he says with a laugh.

From Los Angeles Times

But Stein isn’t interested in doing the heavy lifting of organizing at the grassroots level required to win substantive policy achievements for Americans of any political stripe.

From Salon